With the arrival of September, the MIT Innovation Club is beginning to ramp up for another academic year. After a summer’s worth of planning, the Innovation Club has a lot of new things in store for those of you on the MIT campus as well as around the world:

Further website expansion: After renovating our website last spring, we will continue to add features and expand the information contained within the site. For the past few weeks, we have been beta testing a message board tool which is now available via the ‘Forum’ link at the top of our webpage. We hope that the message board will be a place where members of the MIT community and those of you around the world can come together to discuss innovation and brainstorm new ideas. The blogging that began here in the spring will continue as well, featuring commentary on innovative technologies and business models.

Expanded event and activity schedule: During the summer, we have been in contact with many corporate partners including many from the world of information technology (including Apple, Dell, Intel, LG Electronics, Logitech, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Research-In-Motion, and Texas Instruments) and will host numerous speakers, focus groups, and brainstorming sessions during the upcoming year. We will also expand our relationship with MIT’s Science and Engineering Business Club (SEBC) and host events for both MBA students and undergraduate and graduate students in the science and engineering disciplines. Finally, we have a number of Technology Testbeds planned for the upcoming year. In addition to our flagship Blackberry Testbed, we will put a number of additional “to-be-announced” devices and technologies in the hands of students for their use during the academic year.

New merchandise: We will soon receive our first shipment of Innovation Club Nalgene water bottles, branded with the new Innovation Club logo. During the upcoming year, we hope to expand our lineup of Innovation Club-branded merchandise with details and ordering information posted on the website.

Broader range of I-Teams: On the heels of our success Innovation Lab (I-Lab) projects last year, the Innovation Club will work with MIT’s Desphande Center and the MIT Sloan Venture Capital and Private Equity Club (VCPE) in both the fall and the spring to sponsor a number of I-Teams projects within the MIT MediaLab and with external corporate partners. I-Teams are student teams who assess the commercial feasibility of scientific and engineering breakthroughs and conduct strategy projects for corporate partners and MIT research labs under the leadership of MIT faculty and staff. More information about our I-Teams lineup will be posted here on the website soon.

Free subscription to the MIT Technology Review for MIT community Innovation Club members: In order to help keep its members close to the pulse of innovative products, services, and business models, the Club and the MIT Technology Review now have a special arrangement through which members of both the Innovation Club and the MIT Community will receive a free subscription to the MIT Technology Review.

That’s it for now, with more updates to follow shortly…

As always we welcome all questions and suggestions at innovationclub-execATmit.edu.

We look forward to seeing you soon in person on campus as well as virtually on our message board.